a lunch story
Today I took my turn washing dishes at my kids' school. I volunteer once a month, along with dozens and dozens of other parents to do all the dishes and it takes about 2 hours. It is not easy work.....my right arm has a bit of tendonitis from the constant spraying of trays and moving heavy loads across the washing area....well, that and I am getting really old and stiff.
Our school has a great team of cooks. My favorite is our head cook....a sassy red-head named Nancy. Disclaimer: I did tell her she was one of my favorite things about school. She is smart. She is creative. She is responsible. Being the head cook requires broad shoulders......hearing all of the complaints, trying to follow all the regulations and rules......so much pressure and I'm guessing the pay is not relative to the work! My grandma was also head cook of my high school and she worked very hard. I remember her feeling so unappreciated by students who would pull their noses up at the food she made......and I also remember sneaking in to visit her and the other cooks during my study halls.....sharing a cup of coffee with them and laughing, smelling the good smells of lunch cooking.....
My children have done well with school lunches until....well......Precious. She is very picky. She hardly likes any foods and is very opposed to trying new foods. Food stresses her out. Food triggers her. I need her to learn and thrive and succeed in school so for now, I have chosen to take school hot lunch out of the equation. I am committed to fixing her a sack lunch every day so that food is not an issue in how her day unfolds. Nothing about daily sack lunch for Precious is easy.
I was in a pretty good groove with a few meals I knew she would eat, and I had adjusted my schedule to make time for the prep every morning.....until I got to school today to wash dishes. The first thing I noticed as I was wiping tables, was another little one was unpacking her smart little lunch box. There was a napkin with stickers and smiley faces on it and a love note from mom and dad wishing her a great day......what?! Parents actually decorate napkins and write love notes? What. the. heck. I decided I am in the top 10 of crappy moms for sure.
I got to take a break from washing to share lunch with Precious when the second-graders came through. I got the hot lunch and thanked the cooks for their work.....Precious walked beside me with her lunch bag. We sat to eat and her lunch exploded everywhere. plastic baggies dripping pickles, chips spilling everywhere, tavern that needed to be unscrewed from the thermos and the scooped onto her bun....and her apple juice box needed to be stabbed with a straw. She sat there looking at everything she had to do before she could eat and she was just frozen....so I helped her and quickly realized that the ziploc bags are a joke and not convenient....and a major messy hassle. She had never complained about the way I made her lunch. She had never mentioned that other kids have a snazzy zippered box and they can eat right out of it like its a lunch tray. Yep. It's true. The little girl with the sticker napkin had one even.
We are in the process of shopping online for a lunch box. Amazon prime is my hero.......
Our school has a great team of cooks. My favorite is our head cook....a sassy red-head named Nancy. Disclaimer: I did tell her she was one of my favorite things about school. She is smart. She is creative. She is responsible. Being the head cook requires broad shoulders......hearing all of the complaints, trying to follow all the regulations and rules......so much pressure and I'm guessing the pay is not relative to the work! My grandma was also head cook of my high school and she worked very hard. I remember her feeling so unappreciated by students who would pull their noses up at the food she made......and I also remember sneaking in to visit her and the other cooks during my study halls.....sharing a cup of coffee with them and laughing, smelling the good smells of lunch cooking.....
My children have done well with school lunches until....well......Precious. She is very picky. She hardly likes any foods and is very opposed to trying new foods. Food stresses her out. Food triggers her. I need her to learn and thrive and succeed in school so for now, I have chosen to take school hot lunch out of the equation. I am committed to fixing her a sack lunch every day so that food is not an issue in how her day unfolds. Nothing about daily sack lunch for Precious is easy.
I was in a pretty good groove with a few meals I knew she would eat, and I had adjusted my schedule to make time for the prep every morning.....until I got to school today to wash dishes. The first thing I noticed as I was wiping tables, was another little one was unpacking her smart little lunch box. There was a napkin with stickers and smiley faces on it and a love note from mom and dad wishing her a great day......what?! Parents actually decorate napkins and write love notes? What. the. heck. I decided I am in the top 10 of crappy moms for sure.
I got to take a break from washing to share lunch with Precious when the second-graders came through. I got the hot lunch and thanked the cooks for their work.....Precious walked beside me with her lunch bag. We sat to eat and her lunch exploded everywhere. plastic baggies dripping pickles, chips spilling everywhere, tavern that needed to be unscrewed from the thermos and the scooped onto her bun....and her apple juice box needed to be stabbed with a straw. She sat there looking at everything she had to do before she could eat and she was just frozen....so I helped her and quickly realized that the ziploc bags are a joke and not convenient....and a major messy hassle. She had never complained about the way I made her lunch. She had never mentioned that other kids have a snazzy zippered box and they can eat right out of it like its a lunch tray. Yep. It's true. The little girl with the sticker napkin had one even.
We are in the process of shopping online for a lunch box. Amazon prime is my hero.......
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